Community Essay
Discourse Community
Angela Carter once said, “Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation.” In the Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics, James Paul Gee indicated “language” is a misleading term, it too often suggests “grammar”. A person probably still does not know how to use a language, even though the person knows the grammar of that language perfectly. In the viewpoints of James Paul Gee, he suggested people must say or write the right thing in the right way while playing the right social role and hold the right values, beliefs and attitudes when people are using language. Gee called the combinations of saying (writing) – doing – valuing – believing as “Discourse”. Sometimes, people could not find out a comfort place of a group or community. As Gee said “We acquire this primary Discourse, not by overt instruction, but by being a member of a primary socializing group (family, clan, peer group). Further, aspects and pieces of the primary Discourse become a ‘carrier’ or ‘foundation’ for Discourse acquired later in life.” People should adjust themselves to fit in different communities. However, for some introverted people such as Ocean Vuong, they would choose to “surrender”. “Normally, my poor writing abilities would excuse me from such assignments, and I would instead spend the class mindlessly copying out passages from books I’d retrieved from a blue plastic bin at the back of the room. The task allowed me to camouflage myself; as long as I looked as though I were doing something smart, my shame and failure were hidden”
